With 97.7 percent of the votes counted in the repeated presidential elections in Romania, the pro-European mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor Dan, is in the lead with 54.31 percent. The leader of the far-right AUR party, George Simion, has received 45.69 percent of the votes.

After polls closed on Sunday, Dan emphasized that “the time has come to fight for one Romania.”

“Elections are not about politicians — elections are about the community, and in today’s vote, the community of Romanians who want deep change in Romania has won. They want well-functioning state institutions, reduced corruption, a thriving economic environment for Romanians, and a society of dialogue, not hate,” said Dan.

He also addressed Simion’s supporters:

“There is a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightfully outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania so far,” he added.

Voter turnout reached 64.72 percent, higher than in the 2014 elections, which had previously set the record for turnout.

Meanwhile, Simion stated after the release of the first exit polls that, according to his estimates, he received 400,000 more votes than Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan.

“I am the new president of Romania. I have won, I am satisfied with today’s vote,” declared Simion.

On Sunday, Romanian citizens voted in the second round of the repeated presidential elections. The vote took place after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential elections held on November 24, 2024. The reason for the annulment was allegations against one of the candidates — Călin Georgescu, who had won the first round — of campaign violations, breaching fair electoral competition rules, and receiving support from an “external actor” (Russia).

On Sunday, 19 million people were eligible to vote, including over one million abroad. A total of 19,440 polling stations were set up in Romania, and 965 abroad.